WOODS CROSS - Darroll Young has always found genealogy fascinating and wants to share that with others, especially young people, at this year’s South Davis Family History Fair.

Young, a youth motivational speaker, is one of two keynote speakers at the 2014 South Davis Family History Fair, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, April 25-26 at Woods Cross High School, 600 W. 2200 South. The fair is being hosted by the Utah Genealogical Association.

Young will speak on Friday, April 25 at 7 p.m. Diane C. Loosle, director of the Family History Library and FamilySearch centers worldwide will speak on Saturday, April 26 at 8 a.m.

Young said the association’s big push this year is to draw more youth to the conference and he hopes to inspire young people to discover more about their family history.

“It’s (genealogy) very much like a treasure hunt,” Young said. “It’s much like following Indiana Jones.” He explained that often in researching genealogy, particularly when researching ancestors who fought in wars, genealogists find they have to go to different states or different genealogical sites to find the information.

“You have to look in every nook and cranny,” he said. “It’s exciting to know about your past.”

This year’s fair is being held nearly a month and a half later than usual, and it may take fairgoers another couple of years to get used to the later date, said Ginny Ackerson, with the UGA. The date change was made because of scheduling conflicts.

In addition to the two keynote addresses, there will be more than 120 sessions between 9:15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Participants may choose any five classes while at the conference.

Classes range from those for beginners to those for advanced genealogists, with many focusing on how to do online research.

Among the more interesting classes is “The 'Shady’ Side of the Family Tree ‘ Prison, Criminal, Asylum Records and More,” offered by Bret Petersen.

Every family has someone in their past who made mistakes, but there’s important lessons to be learned in discovering that people do make mistakes and that current generations need not be bound by those mistakes, but can strive for something better.

Other classes of interest will share how to research military records, how to restore your own photos and learn how to sort through those inherited family records to identify the treasure and the junk.

Registration for the far is $15 for UGA members and $20 for nonmembers. An electronic syllabus is included in the price. A printed syllabus is available for an additional $20.